Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.51650/ezrvs.20.1-2.4
Internal and External Migration of Counties as a Criterion for the Regionalization of Croatia
Marin Maras
; Karlovac University of Applied Sciences, Karlovac, Croatia
*
Lana Vinovrški
; Karlovac University of Applied Sciences, Karlovac, Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Today’s counties in Croatia, as extensions of the central state, lack the characteristics of genuine regions with real developmental powers, highlighting the need to reform the regional administrative system. The aim of this paper is to determine, through an analysis of migration trends at the county level, which counties are migration winners, losers, or neutral, and which have the potential to become key drivers of a future regionalization of Croatia. The descriptive analysis covers the period from 2011 to 2024, with particular attention to internal migrations between counties and external migrations with foreign countries, using data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. The results show that the City of Zagreb and County of Zagreb are the largest migration gainers, forming a functional unit and representing the strongest gravitational center in Croatia. Other migration winners are primarily located in Adriatic Croatia, especially County of Istria, County of Zadar, County of Split-Dalmatia, and County of Dubrovnik-Neretva, while the largest migration losers are the Slavonian counties. In eastern Croatia, County of Osijek-Baranja, despite negative trends, retains a relatively favorable position as a potential regional center. Based on migration patterns, the paper proposes the regionalization of Croatia into several larger regions with corresponding centers: the Zagreb Region (Zagreb), the Dalmatian Region (Split), the Northern Adriatic Region (Rijeka), the Eastern Region (Osijek), and the Central Croatia Region, which lacks a clearly dominant center. Although regionalization entails challenges such as political resistance and the potential weakening of local autonomy, it can contribute to more efficient public administration, better utilization of development potentials, and more balanced regional development in Croatia.
Keywords
regions; counties; internal and external migration; relative and absolute migration.
Hrčak ID:
349820
URI
Publication date:
27.7.2026.
Visits: 0 *